Surrey digs deep to restore hop tradition

I’m prepared to get dirty in the cause of good beer. Earlier this month, I went down on my knees, scrabbling in the earth to help plant a hop field for the Hogs Back Brewery in Surrey. I was not alone. Along with staff from the brewery, there were journalists, historians and hop experts, and even the local priest, Claire Holt, who turned up to bless our efforts.

The event was organised by Hogs Back chairman Rupert Thompson. The brewery at Tongham -- on the famous Surrey ridge that gives its name to the area – is based on a former farm and Thompson had had his eye on the 2½ acre field alongside for some time.

The brewery is keen to use English ingredients in its beer but Thompson felt that while Fuggles and Goldings hops from Kent and Herefordshire were fine he would like to use local varieties. He dug deep into the history of the area and discovered that Farnham in the 18^th and 19^th centuries was a major hop-growing area and was more important than Kent and Herefordshire. The Farnham White Bine variety – the stalks or bines of hops can be white or red – had a good reputation for the delicate aroma and flavour it gave to beer.

Samples were taken down to Kent and grown there. One grower called Golding cunningly renamed his hops and assured a place in brewing history for himself. Sadly for the White Bine, it was ravaged by disease, especially downy mildew, and the last Farnham gardens were grubbed up 85 years ago.

But now a modern derivative of the White Bine is being grown again. My job was to dig a deep hole in the ground, lay the hop roots in the hole and cover them with fresh soil. Finally, I placed a metal peg next to each hole so the hops will have something to cling to as they start to grow.

Rupert Thompson had called in the experts to help build the hop field. While the volunteers dug their holes, Mervyn Carless was measuring the ground in order to build the trellises and wire work for the hop to clamber up as they search for sun and rain. Carless is from Herefordshire and is the last remaining builder of hop gardens in the country. From his long experience, he says the Tongham field will be the first new build hop field in Surrey for 25 or 30 years.

“A hop garden is very expensive to start with because of the cost of the structure work,” he says, “but the hops will stay in the ground for many years.”

Also on hand was the indefatigable Dr Peter Darby, Britain’s and possibly the world’s leading expert on hops, ancient and modern. He runs Wye Hops in Kent, where he has established the National Hop Collection of both old and new varieties of the plant. Darby’s research showed that a hop grown in Herefordshire, the Mathon, is a direct descendant of the Farnham White Bine and he was able to supply Hogs Back with sufficient plants to start the hop field at Tongham. Part of the field will also grow an English version of the American Cascade hop.

Rupert Thompson says it has cost Hogs Back £10,000 to purchase the land and the same amount again to plant and build the structure for the hops. The inspiration comes from French wine makers, who talk about terroir. It’s hard to translate but means, roughly, a sense of place and takes into account local soil and climate.

“Terroir is out point of difference,” he says. In spite of his youthful looks, he’s been around the brewing block a few times, and worked for Bass and Morland. He founded Refresh UK that bought the former Brakspear Brewery in Henley and merged it with Wychwood in Witney, Oxfordshire.

When Marston’s bought Wychwood, Thompson nursed his wounds for a while then invested in Hogs Back with evident success. Sales were up 30% last year and new fermenting vessels have been installed to cope with demand. Hogs Back can produce 10,000 barrels a year and has the capacity to grow to 23,000, making it a fully-fledged regional brewery.

But Thompson knows it’s dangerous to rest on your laurels. “We need a point of difference and terroir helps us,” he says. For British ears, he calls it “localism” as he feels younger drinkers are concerned about how their beer is made and where the ingredients are grown.

“We have to protect our future,” he adds. “Older brewers – and Hogs Back is 21 years old – can lose business to newer ones unless we have that point of difference.”

He believes bringing hops back to Farnham will help give Hogs Back its point of difference. The first batch won’t be ready until 2015 and, after a long slog of digging and planting, even the ungodly among the volunteers welcomed the blessing of the hops from the Reverend Claire Holt of St Paul’s, Tongham.

*Print version Publican's Morning Advertiser 29 May. Main photo above: Rupert Thompson in panama hat, kneeling, with volunteers. Dr Peter Darby is seen standing, second on the right. The Rev Claire Holt is in the middle of the standing line. Below, Rupert Thompson with hop shoots.